Scrimping and saving for a piece of the American dream

Maybe from the ashes of the Great Recession, a new architecture for the middle class can rise for all of us, one that is slimmed down, but also more sustainable, and built to last…

… How many times can you see flashes of happy families in big houses behind white picket fences in the movies, or more recently, paycheck-to-paycheck families in half-million-dollar homes they somehow got loans for and hope to flip for a profit, before starting to believe that that is exactly how life should be? The American dream is so cheerily unrealistic, a film-studio back-lot illusion, one that we dutifully play into and invest years of earnings to make real. Thinking big is at the core of who we are in America. But when misfortune strikes, that illusion can vanish in an instant…